If you like Ives and Schuman, you will want to explore Hunter Johnson's music.

Hunter Johnson was born near Benson, North Carolina in 1906. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the Eastman School of Music, graduating from the latter institution in 1929. He did graduate work with Bernard Rogers at Eastman, and then worked with Alfredo Casella in Rome. He is perhaps best known for the Piano Sonata recorded here and for his music for the Martha Graham ballets: Letter to the World and Deaths and Entrances, which have had hundreds of performances in the United States, Europe and Asia given by the Graham Dance Company. His music has been variously described as neo-classic, neo-romantic and nationalist. It is most likely a combination of all three. Throughout most of his career, Johnson has been deeply involved in teaching, having taught advanced theory and composition at Cornell University, and at the Universities of Michigan, Manitoba, Illinois and Texas. In June, 1991, Hunter Johnson was named Composer Laureate of North Carolina, the first such award to be designated by the state. This disc, now at mid-price, is a wonderful introduction to the music of this sorely under-recorded American composer.